Tell us what you think of the show! Generator interconnection, the process by which power plants like large solar arrays, wind farms, and utility-scale batteries connect to the electrical grid, continues to be one of the biggest barriers to project development. Despite gradual improvement in some parts of the United States since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) passed Order No. 2023 three years ago, messy, complicated, and sometimes outdated policies are still preventing electrons from reaching end customers at a time of skyrocketing electricity demand. Grid operators have made meaningful strides in reducing interconnection queue backlogs and improving planning processes, but significant challenges remain, as detailed in a new progress report from Grid Strategies and The Brattle Group, on behalf of Advanced Energy United, that evaluates how grid operators are progressing since an initial 2024 assessment. On this episode of the Factor This Policycast, recorded live-to-tape at the 2026 Infocast Transmission &amp; Interconnection Summit, Caitlin Marquis, managing director at Advanced Energy United, and Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies, outline how each major regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) is approaching generator interconnection reform, criss-crossing the country and touching on progress in PJM, ERCOT, SPP, MISO, CAISO, ISO-NE, and NYISO. Marquis and Gramlich also share policy suggestions and discuss the recent show-cause orders issued by FERC to each of the six regional grid operators within its jurisdiction, directing them to either justify or reform the rules governing how large energy users, such as data centers, connect to the electric grid. More episodes of Factor This Policycast More episodes of Factor This Policycast

Fixing generator interconnection | Factor This Policycast

Factor This

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Factor This

## Participants

- **Caitlin Marquis** (Advanced Energy United)
- **Rob Gramlich** (Grid Strategies)

## Transcript

Hey there, energy policy people. Welcome back to another edition of the Factor This Policycast, presented in partnership with Advanced Energy United. We had so much fun doing the show for the first time on competitive transmission that we thought, you know what, episode two, let's take this thing out of the home offices and get out on the road. Let's make it as difficult as possible.

Cool. I digress. We're in Washington, D.C. for the Infocast Transmission and Interconnection Summit, one of the preeminent events on the circuit for people who are trying to get projects on the grid and the power infrastructure necessary to support them. We have a lot to talk about, including an update to the generator interconnection scorecard that Grid Strategies and Advanced Energy United, in partnership with the Brattle Group, have recently issued an update to, showing how each of the jurisdictional RTOs is performing when it comes to generator interconnection.

We're going to dive deep into that on the show in just a few minutes, but we've got to start with some of the most pressing news in the industry. I'm joined on the program, just like last week, by Managing Director of Advanced Energy United, Caitlin Marquis, as well as President of Grid Strategies, Rob Gramlich. Really appreciate both of you for finding some time at this busy event to talk about this important stuff. I alluded to it. Let's get to it. The FERC show cause orders. If you didn't catch this news recently, you know, the big jurisdictional entity, the regulator upon regulator,

who has a thumb on these jurisdictional RTOs, said, hey, in no lesser terms, you guys need to figure out generator interconnection and get these processes right. They sent out six show cause orders, one to each of the jurisdictional RTOs, giving them pretty tight timelines to either justify what they're doing or figure out new processes. I want to start by diving into those from a bird's eye view. Let's start at the top, Caitlin. What exactly do these show cause orders do and what are we expecting to come out of them?

Yeah. So the process that culminated in the show cause orders that FERC issued last Thursday, as we're recording, to all of the FERC jurisdictional RTOs and ISOs really started last year when the Department of Energy said to FERC, hey, large load growth is exploding. It's too slow. We need to find faster ways to connect these large loads to the grid.

And, and, and DOE sent FERC, and, and DOE sent for an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, slightly unusual, but not unprecedented step for DOE to say to FERC, hey, we want you to take this action. They laid out 14 principles, but they really, what they were saying is FERC, we want you to play a bigger role on the process for large loads to interconnect to the transmission system. FERC took a bunc...

Fixing generator interconnection | Factor This Policycast

Transcript

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Fixing generator interconnection | Factor This Policycast

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.